"Congratulations, Host! You've drawn the S-rank villain character—The Ruined King, Viego!" The system's notification chimed.
"Huh? An S-rank villain? I know who Viego is, but what's this about ranks?" Takashi Kuroda frowned upon hearing the system's announcement.
"The Villain Template is currently divided into three tiers: S-rank, A-rank, and B-rank. B-rank villains are your typical minor antagonists—commonplace, inconsistent in quality, and not particularly strong. A-rank is a step up, featuring well-known major antagonists from various works, naturally stronger than B-rank. As for S-rank? These are the legendary villains, every single one capable of influencing the entire world," the system explained.
"Tch, not bad. Viego might not be among the absolute top-tier, but in the world of Fate, as long as I don't provoke the truly broken characters, he's more than enough. Especially in this Fourth Holy Grail War—he'll do just fine." Takashi examined the Villain Template Card in his hand before tucking it away with satisfaction.
"So, Host, would you like to proceed with the gacha?" the system inquired.
"Yeah, might as well use it now... Let's go for a 10-pull first. Single pulls can wait." Takashi thought for a moment before answering.
"Understood, Host. Initiating Epic 10-Pull now... Congratulations! You've obtained the following items: Summoner Spells—Cleanse, Ghost, Flash; Ability—Feast (from Cho'Gath); Passive—Relentless Assault (from Jax); Passive—Spider-Sense (from Spider-Man); EX-rank Culinary Mastery; Command Seal Erasure Card; Master-grade Poké Ball; and the weapon, Blade of the Ruined King (upgradeable)."
Surprisingly, everything was actually useful—except maybe that EX-rank Culinary Mastery, which seemed a bit out of place. But there wasn't a single trash item in the bunch.
"These are all pretty handy. Even the EX-rank cooking skill might come in handy for some special events." After absorbing all the abilities, Takashi felt his brain stuffed to the brim. He then took a closer look at what he'd obtained.
First, the Summoner Spells:
Cleanse was self-explanatory—it removed debuffs. The question was, how powerful was it? Could it remove any negative effect?
Ghost and Flash were both excellent escape tools. Flash had a range of about 10 meters, while Ghost lasted for 15 seconds. Both were solid.
Next, the abilities:
Feast was a lifesteal skill that dealt 4% of the target's current HP as damage, ignoring all immunities and defenses. Percentage-based true damage? Extremely powerful—if it worked as described.
Relentless Assault was familiar—each attack stacked 3.5% attack speed, lasting 2.5 seconds, maxing out at eight stacks. A simple but effective buff.
Spider-Sense, one of Spider-Man's signature abilities, allowed him to sense danger. No more worrying about cheap shots—or getting headshot. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Kiritsugu Emiya.
EX-rank Culinary Mastery... Well, nothing to say there.
The Command Seal Erasure Card, however, caught Takashi's eye—though its effect wasn't quite what he expected. Instead of erasing all Command Seals, it reduced them to just one. A bit niche, but then he thought of a certain corrupted priest later in the story. Maybe it would be useful.
Then came the Master Ball. The "100% capture rate" was expected, but the last line of its description made Takashi rub his eyes in disbelief:
"If it's alive, even a god can be caught."
Wait, what? Not limited to Pokémon? Could it capture people? Servants?
When he asked the system, the answer was a resounding yes. Instantly, Takashi treated it like a treasure, carefully storing it away. This thing was valuable.
Finally, the Blade of the Ruined King—Viego's signature weapon. But Takashi noticed the "upgradeable" tag. Upon checking, he realized it wasn't at full power yet. To upgrade it, he needed to use the Ruined King's power to enslave a certain number of people and strengthen the blade's corruption.
Looks like he'd need to use the Viego Villain Template first before he could proceed. With that in mind, Takashi stored the weapon in his system inventory.
"So, Host, satisfied with your haul? This was an *Epic 10-Pull*—normally, each pull costs 1,000 Villain Points. Of course, the rewards are worth it~" The system chuckled.
"Wait, what? 1,000 per pull? Are you robbing me?" Takashi's eyes burned with indignation.
"Ah, Host, look at what you got! The Epic tier guarantees useful items—no filler trash. But if you want to rely purely on luck, there's also the standard 100-point gacha. Feel free to try your luck with that." The system displayed the gacha interface.
"Tch. What about Legendary tier? Don't tell me it's 10,000 per pull."
"The Legendary tier is special—it can't be bought with Villain Points. You can only get it as a reward for completing high-level villainous acts. After all, Legendary pulls give you the real overpowered stuff—the rarest of the rare."
"...So, basically, forget about it. Fine, let's do a pull. I wanna see just how broken Legendary-tier rewards are."
Ding!
"Executing Legendary Pull... Congratulations, Host! You've obtained Bard, the Wandering Caretaker's Blessing: Once per day, gain 5 seconds of invulnerability, blocking any attack that doesn't exceed Bard's power level."
A stream of musical notes flowed into Takashi's body, coating him in a shimmering golden light.
"Holy shit! This is straight-up invincibility! Five seconds of complete immunity every day? That's broken!" Now Takashi understood why Legendary-tier was so hyped.
"So, Host, ready to summon a Servant now?" the system asked.
"Not yet. From the people Ryuunosuke killed, it doesn't seem to be the couple with the child from the original story. The timeline might still be early, before the Fourth War properly begins... In that case, there's something else I should do first. System, can you clean up any traces here? I don't want anyone tracking me down."
"No problem, Host. All traces have been erased. You can now use Flash to leave this building."
A faint glow flickered in the room—evidence of the system's cleanup. Takashi immediately activated Flash and vanished.
"Host, we've circled half of Fuyuki City just to reach this mansion? What's the plan?" The system stared at the eerie Western-style house, puzzled.
"Pilgrimage." Takashi pulled out his phone, snapped a photo of the building, then took a selfie. Noticing the lighting was too dark, he said, "System, can you add some fill light?"
"Host, if you want a proper photo, the system has already generated one for you."
His phone screen flashed, and a crisp, clear image appeared—showcasing Takashi's handsome face with the mansion in the background.
Satisfied, Takashi then pulled out a card—the Viego Villain Template.
"Host, are you sure you want to use it? Now? Here?" The system was baffled. "This card could save your life in a critical moment. Why use it so soon?"
"System, my dude, you're thinking too small. Instead of hoarding it for survival, I'd rather maximize its value now to grow stronger faster. Holding onto it forever just means wasting its potential."
With that, Takashi activated the card. Thick black mist surged from it, enveloping him completely. Moments later, the mist dispersed, revealing a tall, pale man with a crown of ruin, eight-pack abs, and an aura of dark energy.
"All is fleeting. All is ruined."
Takashi delivered the iconic line—perfectly in character.
"Alright, System. Time to commit our first real act of villainy in this world."
"Which is?"
"Murder and arson, of course."